Nurse strangled by patient thought she would die

Kazeema Afzal blacked out when she was attacked by Kiefer Sutton, a patient at Heath Lane Hospital in West Bromwich

A mental health nurse feared she would not survive when a patient strangled her as he told her it would be "fun seeing you die".

Kazeema Afzal was working at Heath Lane Hospital in West Bromwich on 2 July 2023, when Kiefer Sutton ran at her and wrapped his hoodie drawstring around her neck until she blacked out.

Ms Afzal, from Walsall, said Kieffer Sutton also told her "It's time for you to suffer your death".

Sutton, 25, of Wood End Road in Erdington, was found guilty of attempted murder by a jury at Wolverhampton Crown Court and is due to be sentenced on 23 May.

Ms Afzal said Sutton had become angry when her alarm went off and told her: "Take the alarm battery out, you're disturbing my live chat."

Not long after this, the defendant charged at at her and "within seconds" had wrapped the cord around her neck, tying a knot in it to stop her from pulling it loose.

The cord was so tight Ms Afzal could not swallow or cry out for help.

"I was looking at the door thinking someone will come and save me," she said.

"I went numb and floppy. I thought, I'm going to die now."

Kieffer Sutton had been a patient at the hospital in West Bromwich for six months

The mother-of-two had moved into mental health nursing after her sister, Areema Nasreen, became one of the youngest NHS workers to die in the pandemic.

Both sisters had worked at Walsall Manor Hospital, even working on the same ward for a year.

As she was being strangled, Ms Afzal thought: "I'm not going to survive, I'm going to meet [Areema]."

Ms Afzal felt unable to carry on working at the hospital when her sister died, deciding to go into mental health nursing as she struggled to deal with it.

"[But] I can't keep running from Trust to Trust," she said.

Areema Nasreen (right) was one of the youngest NHS workers to die from coronavirus at the start of the pandemic

Ms Afzal told the BBC she was now considering giving up her career completely and moving abroad with her family because of the impact the attack has had on her mental health.

"It's scarred me for life. I'm scared I won't be able to fix myself," she said.

In the 10 months since the attack, the 37-year-old still cannot sleep and is plagued with anxiety about her children's welfare.

"I'm scared for my kids to go to school, I'm scared something sinister will happen to them," the mother-of-two said.

"[Sutton] stopped my whole life. I wish I could ask him, 'Why did you want to kill me? You've ruined my life'."

Ms Afzal said it had been the policy at the Black Country Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust to have two members of staff in the room while a patient changed or went to the toilet, but that this policy slowly lapsed.

Two members of staff had been with Sutton until he needed to change clothes, meaning the other member of staff had to leave the room due to the trust's care plan.

This meant Ms Afzal was in the room alone with Sutton when he decided to violently assault her.

The NHS trust told the BBC: "We cannot comment on the specifics of the case at this time.

"We will be speaking to Ms Kazeema Afzal to explore this information with her and reflect on our existing learning and additional reflections."